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SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants' championship formula is a familiar one, just with new faces all over the diamond two years later: stellar starting pitching backed by a shut-down bullpen, a late-season surge and a manager making all the right moves.
San Francisco captured its second World Series title in three seasons with a stunning sweep of the Tigers, and only catcher Buster Posey was in the lineup for the Game 5 clincher in 2010 at Texas and also the finale at Comerica Park in 2012.
"We're just happy right now," Posey said. "It's an unbelievable feeling."
Two of the four games against Detroit were started and won by a pair of pitchers not even on the World Series roster in 2010, and in Ryan Vogelsong's case he wasn't even in the majors back then.
The only regular still around from that team is Posey, and the catcher had to rebound from devastating ankle and leg injuries sustained in a home-plate collision in late May 2011 to put together an MVP-caliber season and become the NL batting champ. He played far more than anybody envisioned his body would allow.
This time, a couple of bench warmers from that last October run shined for San Francisco — MVP Pablo Sandoval and Game 1 winner Barry Zito. The lefty Zito was left off the postseason roster for all three rounds in 2010.
"Just as a player, certainly you want to play on a team that wins the World Series. And to go out there and contribute, there's nothing like that," Zito said. "We were very adamant that we have to step on their throats. We saw what they did to New York."
Marco Scutaro and Hunter Pence were this year's midseason additions, with Scutaro following up Cody Ross in 2010 to earn NL championship series MVP honors. While Scutaro produced the timely hits, including a go-ahead single with two outs in the 10th inning of Sunday's 4-3 win, Pence did plenty and became the motivational speaker of this group. He reminded his teammates to keep the focus even when they jumped out to a surprising 3-0 Series lead against the Tigers.
These Giants showed they could rally back — again and again — and also thrive when playing out in front.
Six victories in six elimination games.
"The thing that made this team so special is just playing as a team, caring for each other," Pence said. "We had our backs against the wall and we knew it wasn't going to be easy. It's not supposed to be. That was one of our mottos, and we went out there to enjoy every minute of it and it was hard-earned. Just an incredible, incredible group of guys that fought for each other."
San Francisco ended the season on a seven-game winning streak.
Reliever George Kontos summed it up the best he could in one Twitter post late Sunday: "WORLD.....SERIES.....CHAMPS!!!! That's all that needs to be said... This team is special.... We did what no other team could."
Much like that 2010 team of "castoffs and misfits" as they referred to themselves, manager Bruce Bochy had to make some tough calls. He moved struggling starter Tim Lincecum to the bullpen, and he became a dominant reliever. Another spot-on move by Bochy, who became just the 23rd manager to win two or more World Series titles.
Nobody figured the Giants would leave AT&T Park with a 2-0 lead Thursday night for the Motor City and not have to come back home for a Game 6, or 7 for that matter.
Bochy, for one, is tired of hearing people call it luck.
"For us to play like we did against this great club, I couldn't be prouder of these guys," Bochy said. "To be world champions in two out of the last three years, it's amazing. Believe me, I know how difficult it is to get here, and I couldn't be prouder of a group of guys that were not going to be denied."
When the Giants take to Market Street in downtown San Francisco for Wednesday's Halloween championship parade, there will be no costumes needed. Brian Wilson, whose season ended in April when he needed Tommy John elbow surgery, and the man who finished off the clincher in his place by striking out the side Sunday on 15 pitches — Sergio Romo — are still sporting those dark postseason beards that have made these two such huge hits.
Along with their pitching, of course.
When it comes to pitching, Giants general manager Brian Sabean has never wavered. He has won more often than not by building around a balanced and versatile staff.
And all five starters are under contract heading into 2013.
A couple of big decisions facing Sabean are whether to re-sign Scutaro and center fielder Angel Pagan. It's unclear whether the Giants will consider giving Melky Cabrera a second chance after the All-Star game MVP was suspended Aug. 15 for a positive testosterone test and then not added to the NLCS roster once he was eligible to return.
Sandoval, the Kung Fu Panda, earned Series MVP honors after sparking his club with that three-homer outing in a Game 1 win against Justin Verlander and Co. He batted .369 this postseason with five doubles, six homers and 13 RBIs. That's after he was benched for four of the five games in 2010, when he hit .176 with two RBIs.
In three mighty swings last Wednesday night, he showed how far he has come since then. Even after a pair of stints on the disabled list this season, one for a broken hamate bone in his hand that required surgery.
"You know, I still can't believe that game. It's the game of your dreams. You don't want to wake up," the 26-year-old Sandoval said.
The Giants again will ask Sandoval to shape up this offseason — and he is on board. Sandoval wants to be at his best not only for San Francisco but also to play for Venezuela in next spring's third World Baseball Classic.
Zito's turnaround is just as noteworthy. The left-hander, who signed a $126 million, seven-year contract before the 2007 season, went 15-8 for his best season since moving across the bay from the Oakland Athletics, where he won the 2002 AL Cy Young Award.
The Giants won Zito's last 14 starts, and he didn't lose after Aug. 2 against the Mets.
"I think there's a lot of learning that goes on in life away from the ball field," Zito said. "To go through it on the big stage ... the lows are lower, but I've changed the way I think about a lot of things."
Zito will be part of an experienced rotation heading into 2013, led by ace Matt Cain.
Cain's season began with a hefty new contract, then only got better with the first perfect game in franchise history June 13, the start in July's All-Star win that sealed home field for the National League, and then another championship.
"What we just did these last couple months is a pretty full year, and something that I'm going to enjoy definitely sitting down and watching at the end of the year," Cain said.
Scutaro was only around for part of it, but with the remarkable numbers he put up since coming from the Colorado Rockies on July 27 nobody would know any better.
"It's what you work for all season," Scutaro said. "I don't even know what to say right now. We just won the World Series. It's still priceless."


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Our focus and sweet spot at Engage is creating amazing custom solutions that meet and exceed our clients expectations. However, in the midst of creating those solutions, we often find that we've made reusable components that speed up the process for the next folks. We sell or give away many of these pre-made components. There are also bigger platforms upon which we develop solutions.
Dear DNN Community:
In 2008, Engage released our first commercial module, Engage: Publish, to a wonderful reception from the DNN community. Soon after, Engage created several more top-selling modules – committing nearly 7,000 man hours to their development. We were very successful at creating solutions that met system integrators' needs and, hopefully, exceeded their expectations.
Since the "early days," DNN's adoption by larger organizations has grown significantly. Instead of us recommending DNN as a solution to organizations who have never heard of it, we are now sought out by organizations specifically for our DNN expertise. Our project workload has grown such that we are left with very little, if any, time to spend on our modules. Over the last year, we have been unable to support our modules at the high level our customers expected.
Going forward, to best serve our clients, we need to turn our attention fully to their needs. As a result, our ability to continue to invest time and energy in the module space has come to an end. Engage Modules are no longer offered for sale under a commercially supported license.
In the spirit of contributing to open source and specifically to the DNN ecosystem, Engage has open-sourced all of our modules. All Engage modules are now available for FREE to the DNN Community at large, licensed under the MIT open source license. Source code and module install packages are available on GitHub. The forums on EngageModules.com are still available as a community-supported resource.
Engage will continue as stewards of these modules. We'll be making periodic updates of our own and we welcome contributions from the community.
Rich Campbell President, Engage
Our popular suite of commercial (now open-source) DNN modules may contain a pre-built component that will be the right fit for your business.
Download from GitHub
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Need something custom? We can do that. Engage builds custom DNN modules for a wide range of business needs. If we haven't already built what you're looking for, give us a call and we'll help you to create exactly what you need.
Contact Us

subset: commoncrawl


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Bank of America reported quarterly earnings that topped Wall Street's estimates on Thursday, but profit fell from a year ago as it took more charges to clean up mortgage-related problems.
After the bank's earnings announcement, Bank of America stock rose in pre-market trading. (Click here to see how Bank of America stock is trading before the bell following the report.)
The company posted fourth-quarter earnings excluding items of $700 million, or 3 cents per share, down from $2 billion, or 15 cents a share in the year-earlier period.
Bank of America also reported revenue of $22.6 billion.


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Restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila photographed and kicked out of Red Medicine
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Our restaurant critic has been unmasked.
S. Irene Virbila, the L.A. Times' restaurant critic for the last 16 years, was visiting Red Medicine restaurant in Beverly Hills on Tuesday night when she was approached by managing partner Noah Ellis, who took Virbila's picture without her permission and then ordered Virbila and her three companions to leave, refusing them service.
Ellis posted her picture on the restaurant's Tumblr site, explaining that she was not welcome there.
No surprise that the posting immediately ricocheted throughout the blogosphere, generating plenty of discussion along the way. Over at food blogs Eater LA -- which also published Virbila's photo -- and Squid Ink, there were dozens of comments. Some called it a petty, vengeful act and a desperate bid to cover up persistent problems at the restaurant, while another praised Virbila as "an island of constancy in a sea of ever-changing food 'reviewers.' "
There were also comments siding with Red Medicine: "... their reasons were grounded in the idea that no one person should have enough influence to take down an establishment, and sadly that is how things sometimes work in this fickle, fame obsessed town. i have seen people show up at restaurants with s.irene's reviews cut out so the[y] know what to order, as if they don't have an actual brain and the ability to decide for themselves, and then be upset when the menu has changed or something is not in season."
Ellis said he was intentionally trying to take away Virbila's anonymity because he does not like her reviews: "Our purpose for posting this is so that all restaurants can have a picture of her and make a decision as to whether or not they would like to serve her. We find that some her reviews can be unnecessarily cruel and irrational…"
Virbila said she and her companions had been waiting for 45 minutes past their reservation time when Ellis approached her, camera in hand. Ellis said on the site that Virbila arrived "in the middle of a particularly hairy service … and because we had guests lingering, were not able to sit [her party] immediately."
Ellis added, "We're writing this to make everyone aware that she was unable to dine here, and as such, any retribution by her or on her behalf via a review cannot be considered to be unbiased."
Times Food editor Russ Parsons said Virbila contacted him after the incident and was upset by it. It was humiliating to be confronted in such a manner, Parsons said, and Virbila felt violated to have her picture taken without her permission. But mostly, he said, "She was upset because she has worked extremely hard for more than 15 years to maintain her anonymity in the L.A. restaurant scene."
Parsons said that a truly anonymous restaurant critic is increasingly rare in a world that revolves around instant communication and a camera is as close as your cellphone. Some media outlets say true anonymity is impossible and, as a result, no longer try to go to great lengths to hide a critic's identity.
Anonymity is important because restaurant critics function as consumer advocates and want to ensure their meal closely mimics the meal and dining experience that anyone else would get if they were to show up at that restaurant. If the critic is known, the staff can go out of its way to give them special treatment.
To that end, Virbila makes reservations under a different name, never uses her own phone number and even pays with a credit card issued in a different name. She never accepts free meals for herself or her companions. Review protocol calls for her to visit a restaurant on three separate occasions and sample a wide variety of menu options so that her reviews can truly inform readers.
"Restaurant meals can cost a lot of money," Parsons said, "and we want to make sure that when one of our readers goes to a restaurant they can expect the same experience the critic received."
The Times will continue with its plans to review Red Medicine. The restaurant was chosen for review, Parsons said, because of its pedigree –- Ellis has worked in the past with noted chef and restaurateur Michael Mina. And, Parsons added, "We had hopes that they would be doing interesting things with Southeast Asian food. We will still review them."
As for Virbila? "Virbila has been our restaurant critic since 1994. We consider her to be one of the premier restaurant critics in the U.S.," he said.
--Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch


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St. Cyprian: The Unity of the Catholic Church
Chapter 4
If anyone considers and examines these things, there is no need of a lengthy discussion and arguments. Proof for faith is easy in a brief statement of the truth. The Lord speaks to Peter: 'I say to thee,' He says, 'thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven.' Upon him, being one, He builds His Church, and although after His resurrection He bestows equal power upon all the Apostles, and says: 'As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Receive ye the Holy Spirit: if you forgive the sins of anyone, they will be forgiven him; if you retain the sins of anyone, they will be retained,' yet that He might display unity, He established by His authority the origin of the same unity as beginning from one. Surely the rest of the Apostles also were that which Peter was, endowed with an equal partnership of office and of power, but the beginning proceeds from unity, that the Church of Christ may be shown to be one. This one Church, also, the Holy Spirit in the Canticle of Canticles designates in the person of the Lord and says: 'One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen one of her that bore her.' Does he who does not hold this unity think that he holds the faith? Does he who strives against the Church and resists her think that he is in the Church, when too the blessed Apostle Paul teaches this same thing and sets forth the sacrament of unity saying: 'One body and one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God'?
Chapter 5
This unity we ought to hold firmly and defend, especially we bishops who watch over the Church, that we may prove that also the episcopate itself is one and undivided. Let no one deceive the brotherhood by lying; let no one corrupt the faith by a perfidious prevarication of the truth. The episcopate is one, the parts of which are held together by the individual bishops. The Church is one which with increasing fecundity extend far and wide into the multitude, just as the rays of the sun are many but the light is one, and the branches of the tree are many but the strength is one founded in its tenacious root, and, when many streams flow from one source, although a multiplicity of waters seems to have been diffused from the abundance of the overflowing supply nevertheless unity is preserved in their origin. Take away a ray of light from the body of the sun, its unity does not take on any division of its light; break a branch from a tree, the branch thus broken will not be able to bud; cut off a stream from its source, the stream thus cut off dries up. Thus too the Church bathed in the light of the Lord projects its rays over the whole world, yet there is one light which is diffused everywhere, and the unity of the body is not separated. She extends her branches over the whole earth in fruitful abundance; she extends her richly flowing streams far and wide; yet her head is one, and her source is one, and she is the one mother copious in the results of her fruitfulness. By her womb we are born; by her milk we are nourished; by her spirit we are animated.
Chapter 6
The spouse of Christ cannot be defiled; she is uncorrupted and chaste. She knows one home, with chaste modesty she guards the sanctity of one couch. She keeps us for God; she assigns the children whom she has created to the kingdom. Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined with an adulteress is separated from the promises of the Church, nor will he who has abandoned the Church arrive at the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He cannot have God as a father who does not have the Church as a mother. If whoever was outside the ark of Noe was able to escape, he too who is outside. the Church escapes. The Lord warns, saying: 'He who is not with me is against me, and who does not gather with me, scatters.' He who breaks the peace and concord of Christ acts against Christ; he who gathers somewhere outside the Church scatters the Church of Christ. The Lord says: 'I and the Father are one.' And again of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit it is written: 'And these three are one.' Does anyone believe that this unity which comes from divine strength, which is closely connected with the divine sacraments, can be broken asunder in the Church and be separated by the divisions of colliding wills? He who does not hold this unity, does not hold the law of God, does not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does not hold life and salvation.
The Unity of the Catholic Church, cc. 4-6.


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We respect the individual needs and requirements of all of our customers and we do our best to accommodate them. And that is precisely why we have left the most important aspect – how your car is going to look – entirely up to you and your imagination.
The new ŠKODA Fabia will be available in 15 body colours. ColourConcept can be used to select varying combinations for the roof, the A-pillars, the side-mirror housing, and 16″ alloy wheels. Four combination colours are available: white, red, silver and black.
Altogether, we are offering 125 colour combinations, including a choice of four interior colour schemes. Discover yours.


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Those who know me know that I love technology and, further, I love gadgets. It came as no surprise two or three years ago when I asked for a GPS unit for Christmas. What did surprise a few people was the reason I wanted it: to take it with me to cemeteries and mark the location of graves I'd found. Besides the "techie" part of me being happy, the genealogist part of me was thrilled. Now I could return to a specific grave without having to hunt for it or stop in the cemetery office.
As I've worked with my GPS unit — a Garmin GPSmap 60CS — I've developed a method for using it in conjunction with my digital camera. Rather than saving the position on the GPS itself and then having to enter some sort of description so I'd know which grave it referred to, I simply take a picture of the GPS right before I take a picture of the tombstone.
Here are a few things I've found useful:
- Be consistent in when you take the GPS photo. Do it either always before or always after you take the tombstone photo. This will help eliminate confusion later when you're looking at the photos.
- If possible, try to get a bit of the tombstone in the GPS photo. In the photo above, you can see a bit of the tombstone in the upper right-hand corner. This also helps you match the GPS with the tombstone.
- Become familiar with your camera so you know where you can best focus for the GPS shot. You want the unit close enough so that the numbers are very legible when you look at the photo later. (Otherwise, what's the point?) With my little camera (a FujiFilm Finepix Z), I've found that it will quickly focus if I hold the GPS at arm's length.
- Make sure there isn't glare on the GPS' screen; it makes the numbers illegible in the photo.
The photo above is the one I took when I was at Union Cemetery on the north side of Columbus. Not only is it a huge cemetery — 128 acres — but it is split into two major sections on opposite sides of a very busy road. You don't want to wander around looking for a stone if you don't have to! Now the next time I want to visit the grave of Medal of Honor recipient Joel Parsons (private, Company B, 4th West Virginia Infantry), I know exactly where to go. (Well, actually, plus or minus 15 feet.)
For those of you who follow Tombstone Tuesday, I'd like to thank you for your patience over the past few weeks. Between preparations for the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference, the conference itself, losing power for 5 days (!!), and autumn quarter staring, I simply have not had the opportunity to post like I've wanted to. Hopefully, I will be able to get back on a good schedule and return to having Tombstone Tuesday be a weekly event!


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Go heavy or go home is a good rule of thumb, but wouldn't it be helpful to know if you should skip the workout before you got to the gym? Here's how.
The weight on a barbell will never lie to you. Maybe you grew up in a world where even the dumbest kid in class got a Super Good Tryer award, but when you walk a heavy squat out of the rack, it's going to honestly tell you how strong you are.
We've all had those good days. The bar sits ominously on the floor weighted close to a personal record. You walk up, take a deep breath, and deadlift it so fast it feels like you could've power cleaned it.
Likewise, we know what the bad days feel like. You walk out a squat that should be barely over a warm up and it feels crushing. Everything hurts. All you want to do is take a nap.
The difference between your good gym days and your bad ones are determined largely by the status of your nervous system. Just as you stress a muscle in training in order to force it to adapt and become stronger, your nervous system is being stressed, recovering and attaining a new level of strength.
The cycle between stress and recovery matters to your muscles and it's a crucial factor in the health of your nervous system as well. There's a fine line between the right amount of stress, sufficient recovery, and going too far.
How do we know where we are in that continuum? What can we do to ensure that we have more good days in the gym than bad?
Enter Heart Rate Variability
There are many different ways to monitor nervous system status, from detailed sleep analysis to sticking tiny needles into nerve fibers to measure sympathetic traffic. They all work to varying degrees. The preferred method, due to ease of use, accessibility, and accuracy is monitoring heart rate variability, or HRV.
HRV allows us to take the guesswork out of day-to-day manipulation of training intensity and recovery. It helps to individualize control of the processes necessary for mental and physical performance as well as resistance to sickness and injury.
What Is HRV?
To understand HRV, you need to know the basic structure of the two branches of the nervous system.
- Autonomic nervous system. Controls the body's functions necessary for survival such as breathing, digestion, heart rate, blood pressure, and organ control.
- Voluntary nervous system. This is consciously controlled and allows you to perform daily functions like lifting weights, running, or picking up a coffee mug.
Within the autonomic nervous system there are two sub-systems that coexist in a push-pull relationship.
The first is the sympathetic nervous system, which creates the "fight or flight" response. This increases physiological performance when a stressor is introduced. The second subsystem is the parasympathetic nervous system, which counters the body's response to the sympathetic system and helps create an environment conducive to rest and recovery.
Don't think of them so much as a gas and brake pedal because they don't fight each other. Rather, consider them in terms of a continuum, working in unison to varying degrees.
Your heart doesn't beat in a perfectly steady, metronomic fashion. Rather, the frequency of your heart rate varies with respiration. Each time you exhale, within milliseconds the brain sends an inhibitory parasympathetic signal to the heart that slows it. As soon as you inhale, that signal drops away and sympathetic tone increases, causing a slight increase in heart rate.
This back and forth balance provides a window into the status of the two components of your autonomic nervous system. If the parasympathetic "rest and digest" system is strongly activated, you'll see a high level of variability in heart rate. If the sympathetic system is dominating, the parasympathetic system will be blunted and variability will be low.
This allows insight into how your body is responding to allostatic load, which is the cumulative demand placed on your neuroendocrine system to maintain homeostatic balance under dynamic conditions.
Selectivity: Strong Stress Response and Rapid Recovery
Beyond the immediately visible body composition measures seen from training, it's important to understand the deeper psychobiological side of performance.
Often the difference between an Olympic podium and "also ran" status, or a successful graduate of Special Forces Selection and washing out comes down to neurological components of performance.
Ideally, an individual has a powerful, sympathetic response to an acute stressor (like a competition), along with an equally powerful parasympathetic response when it comes time to rest and recover, whether that's on days off from training, de-load periods, or even breaks between rounds in an MMA fight or tennis match.
Compared to more average competitors, Olympic caliber athletes and Special Operations personnel have simultaneously stronger sympathetic responses during competition and higher parasympathetic input during rest. They swing further to either side of the continuum.
They tend to have lower baseline stress hormones with greater diurnal variation of cortisol, meaning that they have significantly higher levels of cortisol in the morning than in the evening, which allows their body to fluctuate between higher arousal during the day and deeper recovery at night.
Elite Performance versus "Here's your participation ribbon"
A study done by Potterat et. al. compared Navy SEALs to "non elite" men from a conventional military group. The SEALs had higher heart rate dipping, which means that during sleep, when the parasympathetic system takes over to induce recovery, their heart rates dropped by an average of 29%, whereas the non-elites dropped by only 21%.
The SEALs also had lower baseline levels of the stress hormone cortisol during the day while in a free living (non-stressed) environment, despite an equal level of cortisol release during a stressful survival course.
That's a crucial point. The elite performers had stronger parasympathetic tone during non-stressful living conditions. The ability to relax is an asset.
In another study comparing Special Forces (SF) soldiers to conventional troops during an intense survival school, the SF soldiers were found to have higher levels of sympathetic-driven norepinephrine (a.k.a. noradrenaline) during the stressful scenarios. When the training was over, the norepinephrine levels of the SF soldiers returned to their pre-training baseline, whereas the non-elite soldiers had significantly depressed levels. Their sympathetic system was exhausted.
In the intensely stressful Combat Diver Qualification Course, the highest performers had the lowest rates of HRV immediately before and during the course, illustrating that when it was time to take on the challenge, the top performers responded with the strongest sympathetic responses.
Conversely, the men with highest heart rate variability at this point demonstrated the highest levels of "burnout" and lowest performance. As the researchers hypothesized, they had the lowest level of "engage threat" response.
All of this illustrates the importance of a healthy, powerful, stress response and the ability to rapidly recover from acute stressors while minimizing unnecessary chronic stress. The way you manage your training and recovery will determine your ability to develop that.
HRV and Athletes
Even if you don't plan on navigating underwater for three miles, being taken captive by enemy forces, or shooting Bin Laden in the face, these concepts have important implications for any athlete.
Similar observations of stress responses during elite level performance have been made when examining Olympic athletes, especially in the research of Dr. Eric Potterat and his colleagues at Optibrain, an institute dedicated to understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of extreme performance.
Additional illuminating research has also been conducted on HRV in athletes ranging from powerlifters to distance runners and swimmers.
In competitive powerlifters, scientists found a correlation between HRV, strength, and levels of the hormone DHEA (a hormone crucial for neural repair). Following a two-hour strength workout that included lifts at 95% of 1-rep max, lifters were monitored for a 72-hour recovery period.
Strength levels, HRV and DHEA decreased after the workout. These levels recovered to baseline and in some cases increased to new levels by the end of a 72 hour period. (See the charts below.)
HF in the above graph is a measure of parasympathetic tone
This illustrates the neural recovery process taking place following a heavy training session. The initial stress of the workout increased sympathetic output and depleted neuroprotective DHEA levels. As the recovery process took place and inflammation was reduced, HRV and DHEA levels recovered.
In a study done on middle distance runners, athletes were put through an exhaustive three-week training protocol followed by a one week de-load. As allostatic load from training stress accumulated, the athletes saw a progressive decrease of as much as 40% in HRV.
This change reversed itself during the recovery period, and the athletes ended with a net increase in HRV. This confirmed the hypothesis that repeating "consecutive high and low intensity training periods could result in a progressive cumulated increase in, mainly, parasympathetic activity, which has been shown to be directly correlated to higher VO2 max values."
Interestingly, resting heart rate was also measured during this study, and showed a change of only about ten percent (roughly 4 bpm) throughout the study. Considering the countless potential variables affecting resting heart rate and the relatively small degree of change, this makes resting heart rate a difficult means of assessing nervous system health.
HRV and Chronic Inflammation, Cortisol, Glucose, Immunity and Soft Tissue Pathologies
Heart rate variability, however, is a reliable means of predicting systemic inflammation, chronically elevated stress hormone levels, altered glucose management, immune health and soft tissue injuries.
"Decreased vagal function and heart rate variability (HRV) were shown to be associated with increased fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c levels, increased overnight urinary cortisol, and increased proinflammatory cytokines and acute-phase proteins. All of these factors have been associated with increased allostatic load and poor health." Thayer and Sternberg, Neuroendocrine and Immune Crosstalk, Volume 1088, 2006.
In a massive study performed on competitive swimmers, they found reliable correlates between HRV and sickness as well as soft tissue pathology.
Mainly, the days immediately before sickness or soft tissue injury were preceded by an increase in HRV, whereas the weeks during the actual sickness or injury were marked by increased sympathetic tone and lower HRV.
According to the researchers, the most likely explanation for a brief increase in HRV before sickness is that the parasympathetic system increases activity in response to an immediate pathogen, in an attempt at preventing the spread of infection and inflammation.
After an incubation phase estimated to be about five days in length, the parasympathetic system's anti-inflammatory actions were overwhelmed and the pathogen or injury took precedence, leading to a spike in sympathetic-driven inflammation and decreased parasympathetic tone.
How do We Measure HRV?
The difference between the output of the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous systems is determined by measuring the variable spaces between R waves on an EKG (or the difference in time between heart beats). This measurement is an accurate representation of your autonomic nervous system balance because both systems share similar pathways and contribute to controlling heart rate.
Using HRV in the Stress and Recovery Cycle
To take advantage of your HRV measurements, you need to understand the basic stages of how the body reacts to stress. This is, of course, assuming that you're providing the body with an adequate level of stress to respond to.
Following Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome (G.A.S.), the body goes through three distinct stages of stress response:
1. Shock
Also known as the alarm stage, stage one is a healthy body's response to a new stressor. During this stage:
- HRV decreases.
- The body reacts with increased sympathetic tone.
- Increased output of central stress hormones (CRH and ACTH).
- Increased adrenal output of epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol.
- Afferent (towards the brain) signals cause an efferent (outward) effect on the nervous system, hormonal system, and motor neurons.
2. Overreaching
Known as the resistance stage in the G.A.S. Stage two occurs in response to an imbalance between training stress and recovery.
- Sympathetic tone during stress (exercise) increases.
- Parasympathetic tone during recovery increases.
- HRV increases due to increased anti-inflammatory parasympathetic response.
- Decreased turnover of contractile proteins (i.e., slower recovery).
- Cortisol and other stress hormone levels remain elevated.
- CNS responds to decreased adrenal response by increasing central stress hormone output.
- Decreased Beta 2 Adrenoreceptor density reduces adrenal response to the central stress hormone ACTH (corticotropin).
3. Chronic Stress
This is overtraining, or the G.A.S. exhaustion phase. Stage three occurs when the body continually fails to adapt to chronic stress.
- CNS shuts down production of central stress hormones.
- Adrenals remain resistant to the central stress hormone ACTH.
- Sympathetic response is impaired.
- Increased baseline cortisol.
- Decreased diurnal cortisol variation.
- Decreased heart rate dipping at night.
- Decreased testosterone and other anabolic markers.
- Psychological symptoms of "burnout".
- Depressed protein synthesis (slow recovery to muscle damage).
- Depressed immune function.
- Increased systemic inflammation.
- HRV remains elevated due to chronically increased parasympathetic response.
4. Supercompensation or Recovery
This is the de-load phase. If you haven't slipped into stage three overtraining, you should only need about a week for this. Heavy exhaustion can take months for full recovery.
- Cortisol levels decrease back to resting levels with possible improvement.
- Diurnal cortisol variation increases.
- CNS increases central stress hormone response to acute stressors.
- Adrenals regain Beta 2 Adrenoreceptor density and sensitivity to central hormones.
- Inflammation is mitigated.
- HRV decreases back to baseline (Baseline likely increases if the training block focused on aerobic improvements).
Don't Break Your Body
You don't need or want to go through all three stages of the G.A.S. to attain neural supercompensation benefits. Ideally, you progress into stage two and then briefly deload before starting over. The graph above illustrates the process of stress accumulation and its effect on fitness.
How to Monitor HRV Yourself
There are a number of options for this, ranging from the gold standard Omegawave system costing thousands of dollars, to mobile smart phone apps connected to simple heart rate monitors. We're going to focus on the latter.
The most commonly used app is known as Ithlete.
Ithlete was the first easily accessible smart phone app for HRV monitoring and is simple to use. You buy a receiver that senses signals from an analog heart rate monitor and an app.
Simply plug it all in and breathe according to a fixed inhale-exhale cycle on the app for 60 seconds each morning. Ithlete will track your HRV and begin placing it into a graph based on trends.
From here, it will display your relative HRV level with daily, weekly, and monthly trends. It uses a color code system to indicate changes. Blue or green indicate no or positive change in HRV, amber is a mild decrease, and red means that you've had a significant decrease.
The idea is to use these codes to determine training intensity. If you get an amber, take it easy. If you get a red, take the day off. If you're in the blue or green, go hard.
There are some limitations to this, as this isn't an effective way to account for HRV increases caused by stage two overreaching. In other words, the program doesn't reliably distinguish between an HRV increase caused by a progression into stage two overreaching due to increased cumulative stress, or an increase in HRV caused by under-training and a recovery from stage one.
However, a new app, released in December of 2011, addresses this. It's called Bioforce.
Bioforce is similar to Ithlete, but with some advancements in predictive readings, such as the ability to distinguish between stress-caused HRV increases and recovery-caused HRV increases.
It runs off the same basic template as Ithlete, but with several differences such as a 2:30 measurement period instead of one minute, and warnings to prevent erroneous measurements.
What to Do With Hrv Readings
Here's how to put all this information into good use. First, find your baseline:
- De-load from your current training program for 7-10 days, then create a program and measure for 4-6 weeks.
- Start a detailed training log and track workouts (exercises, weight, sets, reps, rest), nutrition, sleep duration and quality, recovery methods, and workout quality (motivation, mood).
- De-load for 7-10 days at the end of your program.
Once you have a detailed 4-6 week training log you can sit down and review everything to set a baseline, which is essential to knowing what a daily measurement means. You should be able to see correlations between the intensity of your training, the quality of your recovery (sleep, in particular), and the general trend of your HRV levels over the course of the training cycle as you progress through the stages of G.A.S.
With time, this will help you gain more insight into how your body responds to stress, and how to manage your recovery for optimal progress.
Wrapping Up
Even if competition and extremely high level performance aren't a concern, you should be working towards a goal in your training. Heart rate variability provides a user-friendly and economically feasible means to monitor the neuroendocrine system during training, and take a more active role in the attainment of that goal while staying healthy.
Understanding your nervous system will help ensure that you're getting progressively stronger and fitter, avoiding illness and injury, and not just spinning your wheels.
- Taylor MK et al. Age-Matched Comparison of Elite and Non-elite Military Performers during Free Living and Intense Operational Stress. Defense Technical Information Center. 2009-04-08.
- Taylor MK et al. Stressful Military Training: Endocrine Reactivity, Performance, and Psychological Impact. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2007 Dec;78(12):1143-9. PubMed.
- Morgan CA et al. The Impact of Burnout on Human Physiology and on Operational Performance: A Prospective Study of Soldiers Enrolled in the Combat Diver Qualification Course. Yale J Biol Med. 2002 Jul-Aug;75(4):199–205. PMC.
- Morgan CA et al. Relationship among Plasma Cortisol, Catecholamines, Neuropeptide Y, and Human Performance During Exposure to Uncontrollable Stress. Psychosom Med. May-Jun 2001;63(3):412-22. PubMed.
- Morgan CA et al. **Hormone Profiles in Humans Experiencing Military Survival Training.**Biol Psychiatry. 2000 May 15;47(10):891-901. PubMed.
- Chen JL et al. Parasympathetic Nervous Activity Mirrors Recovery Status in Weightlifting Performance After Training. J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Jun;25(6):1546-52. PubMed.
- Pichot V et al. Relation Between Heart Rate Variability and Training Load in Middle-Distance Runners. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000 Oct;32(10):1729-36. PubMed.
- Hellard P et al. Modeling the Association between HR Variability and Illness in Elite Swimmers. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2010 Nov;43(6):1063-70. PubMed.
- Thayer JF. Vagal Tone and the Inflammatory Reflex. Cleve Clin J Med. 2009 Apr;76 Suppl 2:S23-6. PubMed.
- Lehman M et al. Autonomic Imbalance Hypothesis and Overtraining Syndrome. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1998 Jul;30(7):1140-5. PubMed.
- Smith LL. Cytokine Hypothesis of Overtraining: A Physiological Adaptation to Excessive Stress? Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000 Feb;32(2):317-31. PubMed.
- Steinacker JM et al. **New Aspects of the Hormone and Cytokine Response to Training.**Eur J Appl Physiol. 2004 Apr;91(4):382-91. PubMed.


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Drama on the Hill: Americans shrug
In Washington, the showdown is looming. Republicans and Democrats are filling their PR arsenals and spinning the news before it occurs, trying to liven up arcane subjects like cloture and calling their opponents names that range from Hitler to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the latest Star Wars villain.
Inside the Beltway, it's shaping up to be the Great Filibuster Battle of 2005. The rest of America, however, seems to be giving the face-off a collective yawn. Many voters don't even know it's occurring, and many of those who do, don't care - or, worse, see it as more proof that Congress is wrapped up in its own partisan bickering when it should be dealing with issues that matter.
As the Senate heads toward an expected Tuesday vote on barring judicial filibusters, and the fight over judicial nominees grows nastier, the answer to which party is winning the battle for public opinion may be "neither."
Americans think "there's no direct relationship to their lives, and they have other things to be concerned about," says Larry Sabato, director of the center for politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "They see it as typical politicians fighting in the sandbox while Rome is burning."
That's not to say there aren't people who care passionately about the filibuster, or about the judges whose confirmation hearings are sparking the battle, particularly among voters with strong partisan ties. Opinion polls so far give a slight edge to the Democrats' mantra - that it's not right to change the rules in the middle of the game - over the Republicans' message that all judges deserve a fair vote. But observers caution that could change quickly if Democrats begin to seem as if they're slowing the gears of government.
Informal Monitor interviews with pedestrians and shoppers in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Nashville reveal - aside from an extreme lack of knowledge about the issue - the expected party allegiances and occasional nuanced view, but also an overall distaste for much of what occurs in the nation's capital.
"You get close enough to Washington and you can smell the stink," says Nick Zeger, a young pharmacy technician who voted for Bush, outside a Nashville grocery store. "I'm disgusted with the Republicans in the fact that it's come to this, but I'm more disgusted with the Democrats for refusing to work with them.'' And if he had to blame anyone for the impasse? "It would be the American people - because we're the voters and we chose these clown acts to go to Washington."
Part of that attitude reflects a general dissatisfaction with government right now. Polls show approval for Congress down around 35 percent, approaching the lows during the government shutdown of 1995.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released last week, for instance, found that 51 percent of Americans disapproved of the job Congress is doing versus 33 percent who approved. Perhaps more worrisome for lawmakers, 65 percent of the respondents said Congress has a different set of priorities than the rest of the country.
With gas prices soaring, violence remaining entrenched in Iraq, and Social Security a major concern, arguments about how judges are confirmed, whether the courts are being stacked, or whether the minority party's rights are being protected seem distant and procedural to many.
"There's a sense of frustration on the part of the public that there are big problems out there, and we have big majorities thinking the country is losing ground on problems, but none of them has much to do with the issues at the heart of the filibuster battle," says Scott Keeter, director of survey research at the Pew Research Center.
In a Pew poll conducted last week, just 14 percent of those surveyed said they were following the filibuster showdown closely, Mr. Keeter notes, compared to 58 percent who said they were following the price of gasoline and 42 percent who admitted to keeping close tabs on Iraq.
To the extent the public is listening, both parties' messages have some resonance. Republicans are hammering the idea of Democrats as obstructionists and emphasizing judicial nominees' right to a fair vote - an idea that certainly plays well with the party's base, and may appeal to increasing numbers of Americans if the fight drags on.
"They at least deserve an up or down vote,'' says Roy Heil, a Nashville salesman, of Bush's judicial nominees. "If they get voted down, they get voted down.'' He'd have the same attitude, he insists, if it were Republicans holding up Democratic nominees with filibusters.
But early on, at least, the Democrats seem to have a slight edge. A Time magazine/SRBI poll released a week ago found that 59 percent of respondents thought the Republicans shouldn't be able to eliminate the filibuster, while 28 percent said they should. The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll was closer: 32 percent opposed ending the filibuster, while 31 percent favored it.
The Democrats' themes - that the Republicans are power hungry, are trampling on long-established minority-party rights, and are trying to change the rules now that they're the ones in control - can hit home even for voters who aren't hard-core Democrats, says Stuart Rothenberg, an independent political analyst. "That's the kind of message Americans react to," he says. "They don't like someone changing the rules in the middle of the game."
Indeed, those voters with a taste for Washington news and political history are often quick to point out that not long ago the Republicans were using the same filibuster-stalling tactics they now claim to abhor.
"Doesn't Strom Thurmond hold the filibuster record?" asks Jim Coopman, a Chicago accountant, relaxing outside the Intelligentsia cafe. (His Washington trivia point is accurate.) Mr. Coopman, while skeptical that this should be Washington's focus right now, is a firm believer that the filibuster should remain. "It's historic, and it gives them time to negotiate," he says. "Once the Republicans start chipping away on this, where does it end?"
A few blocks away at a bus stop, Alan Feibel is inclined to agree. The filibuster "has its place; without it, the majority would always rule," says the middle-aged salesman, as he skims over the day's Chicago Tribune. "Personally, I think it's stupid, but if it's the only course of preventing something terrible from happening, I guess we should keep it."
But those who know the filibuster's purpose, much less its history, are rare outside Washington. This is the classic sort of issue - complex and political - where voters simply line up behind their party, say some observers.
"Those who like the president, who like Tom DeLay, who like Bill Frist, are strongly with the Republicans here," says pollster John Zogby of Zogby International. "Those who voted for Kerry are militantly opposed. To the degree there's a middle ground left, they're not paying attention because it doesn't have anything to do with them: It's not about gas prices or taxes or things folks in the middle generally care about."
Take Vince, a Pittsburgh writer who's a registered Republican who voted for Kerry (and who declined to give his last name). He's followed the debate and can see some merit in both sides - "sometimes I think the right is right, sometimes I think the left is right" - but the more the battle continues, the less he's interested, and the more he thinks both sides just care about the politics.
"I'm interested in broader issues," he says, citing the widening economic divide as an example. On the filibuster flap, "I've started to zone out as they've started getting into the technicalities."
• Sara B. Miller in Pittsburgh and Amy Green in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.


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Except for motor vehicles, personal property taxes are the responsibility of the owner of record on January 1 of each year.
Show All Answers
By law, all property in this state, not expressly exempt, is subject to taxation. [K.S.A. 79-101]
It provides funding for local services such as roads, parks, and fire protection.
All personal property, except certain motor vehicles and commercial/industrial machinery and equipment, is appraised at "market value" as of the first day of January each year.
Article 11, Section 1 of The Kansas Constitution provides that: Tangible personal property shall be classified into six subclasses and assessed uniformly by subclass at the following assessment percentages:
State-assessed and beyond the scope of this publication. Information in this publication does not apply to state assessed property. This classification is only applicable to non-highway titled motor vehicles and motor vehicles operated over 12,000 pounds on public roads. Motor vehicles operated under 12,000 pounds on public roads and "recreational vehicles" are appraised, assessed and taxed pursuant to statue (Kansas 79-5100 series).
By law, the county appraiser is responsible for listing and valuing property in a uniform and equal manner. The appraiser determines the appropriate value of the property within the county.
Owners of personal property are required by law to list their property as of the first day of January each year with the county appraiser.
KSA 79-303 states "Every person, association, company or corporation who owns or holds, subject to his or her control, any taxable personal property is required by law to list the property for assessment." See Chart
By law, every person, association, company, or corporation required to list property must personally sign the rendition. In addition, if a tax preparer completes the rendition, the preparer must also sign and certify that the information is true and correct. [K.S.A. 79-306]
K.S.A. 79-306 requires all taxable personal property to be listed, by the taxpayer, on a rendition (also referred to as a 'statement of personal property') and filed with the county appraiser on or before March 15th of each year, or the next following business day, if such date falls on a day other than a regular business day.
The county appraiser may extend the March 15th deadline if the taxpayer submits a request in writing, stating just and adequate reasons for the extension, and is received by the county appraiser on or before the March 15th due date, April 1st for oil and gas renditions. (K.S.A. 79-1422, K.S.A. 79-332a, and K.S.A. 79-1457)
By law, all tangible personal property subject to taxation must be listed and assessed as of the first day of January each year in the name of the owner. Individuals, companies and corporations that own or have tangible personal property subject to their control on January 1st, must list the property with the county appraiser on or before March 15th. When March 15th falls on a day other than a regular business day, the first business day following the deadline is considered timely. [K.S.A. 79-301, 79-303, 79-306, 79-1457] If personal property is not listed or if a rendition is untimely filed, the county appraiser is required by law to apply any applicable penalties. These penalties are set forth in K.S.A. 79-1422 and K.S.A. 79-1427(a) as follows: View Chart
If a taxpayer fails or refuses to file a rendition or, if the rendition filed does not truly represent all the property, the county appraiser has the duty to investigate, identify, list and value such property in an effort to achieve uniformity and equality. (K.S.A. 79-1411(b) and K.S.A. 79-1461) NOTE: To avoid incurring state mandated penalties, renditions must be filed by the deadline date. Counties have no authority to abate, waive, or refund the penalty mandated by K.S.A. 79-1422. Only the Board of Tax Appeals has the authority to abate, waive, or refund the penalty.
The county appraiser determines the value of personal property using publications and valuation guides prescribed by the State Division of Property Valuation as required by state law. [K.S.A 79-1456]
Personal property valued at market value does not necessarily depreciate each year. Typically, personal property valued with a formula driven value will depreciate each year, or until a minimum value is reached.
If a property value goes up, it does not necessarily mean the taxes will increase. Likewise, if a property value goes down or does not change, it does not automatically mean the taxes will decrease or remain the same.
Changes in property taxes are based in large part on how much the local government decides to spend on services each year. If values overall go up but local spending remains the same, the mill levy (tax rate) should be lower and therefore have little effect on the tax bill.
Notices of value for personal property are sent to the owner by May 1 each year. [K.S.A. 79-1460]
There are two ways property owners may challenge or "appeal" their personal property values.
1) The "notice of value" may be appealed by contacting the county appraiser's office by May 15th to schedule an informal meeting with an appraiser. [K.S.A. 79-1448]
2) After receiving the tax statement, the owner may file a "payment under protest" form with the county treasurer at the time the taxes are paid. If all the taxes are paid prior to December 20th, the protest can be made no later than December 20th (or by January 31st if the taxes are paid from an escrow account or by a tax service). [K.S.A. 79-2005] Taxpayers can NOT appeal the notice of value AND pay the taxes under protest for the same property in the same tax year. [K.S.A. 79-2005(b)]
The appraiser will demonstrate how the appraised value was determined for the property. The property owner should present information and documentation to support the value he or she believes should be on the property. The appraiser will review and evaluate all information and documentation presented at the hearing. A "hearing result letter" with the appraiser's final determination of value will be mailed to the property owner. If the owner is still not satisfied with the appraised value, he or she may further appeal to the State Board of Tax Appeals. [K.S.A. 79-1448, 79-2005]
The appraised value of the property is multiplied by the assessment rate (determined by the personal property subclass) for the assessed value. The assessed value is then multiplied by the mill levy (tax rate) for the tax unit where the property was located as of the assessment date (January 1). That figure is divided by 1,000 for the full year property tax amount.
Example: To calculate the property tax on personal property with an appraised value of $5,000: Appraised Value 5,000 x Assessment Rate *30% = Assessed Value 1,500 x Mill Levy 126.635 / 1000 = Property Tax $189.95. * 30% is the assessment rate for property in the "motor vehicle" or "other" subclass of personal property. ** 126.635 is the 2001 Manhattan city mill levy.
The mill levy is the tax rate that is applied to the assessed value of the property.
In general terms, the mill levy is computed by dividing the dollars needed for local services by the taxable assessed value in the service area.
In addition, the Unified School Districts of Kansas levy 20 mills for the school general fund. Capital outlay and local option budgets are levied as necessary.
After the local government budgets are published and meetings are completed in August of each year, the county clerk computes the final mill levies for each tax unit and certifies the tax roll to the county treasurer for collection.
Property is not prorated on the tax roll when acquired and is not prorated off the tax roll when disposed of (K.A S. 79-309). The only exceptions to this are for motor vehicles and when taxable property becomes exempt or exempt property becomes taxable.
Yes, if you close your business or sell all of your taxable personal property you must file a form the following year so we can remove you from the tax roll. The Appraisal Office cannot remove property from the tax roll without a signature on file from a taxpayer verifying that the property is no longer owned by them.
The full amount or the first half of the taxes for personal property assessed on the tax roll is due by December 20th each year. The second half of the taxes are due by May 10th of the following year.
If the first half of the personal property taxes are not paid by December 20th, then the full amount becomes due immediately and you no longer have the option of paying the second half by May 10th.
Taxes for motor vehicles that are registered with a tag weight of 12,000 pounds or less and taxes for Kansas RV titled recreational vehicles, are due in full at time of registration or renewal. [K.S.A. 79-5107, 5119]
Whenever the aggregate amount of tax owed for tangible personal property by any taxpayer is less than $5, the tax is cancelled and no personal property tax statement is issued. This applies only to the tax amount due, not the value of the personal property. [K.S.A. 79-344]
The county appraiser can answer taxpayer's questions concerning the classification and valuation of property. The county treasurer can answer questions about a tax bill or tax payment. The county clerk can answer questions regarding mill levies (tax rates) for taxing districts (tax units).


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The Ceramic Plus humbuckers are high-output modern pickups designed to provide a tight low end response with both a smooth midrange and a slightly more pronounced cut on the top end.
Nashville, TN (July 7, 2014) -- Epiphone introduces the new Ceramic Plus humbucker, the next step in the House of Stathopoulo's ongoing crusade to merge the tone of the past with the tone of the future. Like Epiphone's critically acclaimed ProBucker pickups, new Ceramic Plus humbuckers feature 18% Nickel silver unit bases, bobbins tooled to exact Gibson specifications, Elektrisola Magnet wire, but instead are powered by Ceramic 8 magnets.
Where as ProBucker pickups emulate the rich and subtle tones of hand-wound humbuckers from the late 50s, Epiphone's new Ceramic Plus humbuckers are high output modern pickups designed to provide a tight low-end response with both a smooth mid-range and a slightly more pronounced cut on the top end. Ceramic Plus pickups provide high output while still maintaining clarity and focus that's perfect for metal and hard driving rock. Ceramic Plus pickups also shine with incredible sustain, drive, and harmonic content at high volume. Modern hi-wattage amps are an especially good match with Ceramic Plus pickups, providing all the color and character of a classic humbucker but with the cutting drive that can keep up with intense volumes, fast and super articulate players, and more efficient modern amps.
The first generation of humbuckers used Alnico magnets for the simple reason that they were dependable, available, and gave any guitar that used them tremendous power and subtlety. By the late 60s and early 70s, ceramic magnets became more readily available and as guitar-based rock became harder and edgier, the top players in all genres-- especially in the emerging genres of "metal" and "hard rock"--began looking for ways to step ahead of the competition. Ceramic pickups—then and now—provide an excellent alternative to Alnico pickups with their with their sharp, articulate, and more saturated tone.
Early ceramic pickup designs were often poor sounding. Very little research or experimentation had yet taken place to discover how best to use ceramic magnets. They were typically used as a substitute for more expensive Alnico magnets. Even today, the mixed reception of those early designs gave ceramic magnets a bad reputation for almost a decade. But as custom pickup designers discovered the unique characteristics of ceramic magnets, players began taking notice and pickups that used ceramic magnets started improving--and selling--in a big way.
Modern rock's need for volume, drive, and for hi-wattage amps that could maintain crunch for long shows without losing punch and clarity created an ideal need for ceramic magnets in new custom pickup designs.
"The physics dictates that when the impedance of a pickup increases the high end frequency response of the pickup decreases. As the need to drive amps further into saturation became desirable the use of Ceramic magnets to compensate for this loss of frequency response became a perfect fit." remarked Richard Akers, head of Epiphone Research & Development. "Simply increasing the impedance of a pickup while maintaining the use of Alnico magnets in most cases creates a muddy sounding pickup that lacks clarity. The use of ceramic magnets helps to compensate for this and adds clarity and focus to high output pickups"
And the new Ceramic Plus humbuckers are not just for high volume either. Get acquainted with cutting edge tone of Epiphone's new stellar Ceramic Plus pickups with the new Les Paul Classic-T, which also introduces the breakthrough Min-ETune system to the "king of electric guitars" without breaking the bank. The Les Paul Classic-T has all of the Les Paul's trademark features including a Mahogany body with a AAA Flame Maple Veneer top, a combination that has made hundreds of hit records over the last six decades. And with Epiphone's Ceramic Plus open coil humbucker pickups, Epiphone once again puts a new twist on the legendary Les Paul sound.
There are more Epiphone instruments on the way with soon-to-be legendary Ceramic Plus humbuckers. Check out the new Les Paul Classic-T and visit your Authorized Epiphone Dealer for details.
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Antonio Battro wrote recently about spontaneous reading and literacy experiments with laptops, in an essay on computers as reading prostheses (for children and others). In it he refers to Sugata Mitra's work in India with the Hole in the Wall project:
In this sense, we should also experiment with spontaneous reading using a computer. OLPC will start now to deliver XO laptops with special software to remote communities with no schools where children and adults are lacking reading, writing or number skills. An inspiration was the famous "hole in the wall" experiment done in India with illiterate children who spontaneously started to read while sharing an unsupervised computer, what Sugata Mitra calls "minimally invasive education".
Everything we learn in life is part of our education — most of it not conveyed explicitly by instructors. From your own experience: how has minimally invasive education been part of your life, in contrast with controlled, highly directed learning?


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Which is the best way to prepare coffee?
We have no prescribed brewing method for individual coffees, since their characteristics remain. Plunger/French Press is the purest form of consuming coffee as it shows up all traits, good and bad. Espressos tend to mask certain impurities as this is a fast, creamy, romantic extraction. Adding milk changes the taste but 95% of coffee is drunk with milk.
Whatever tastes good for you is all that counts.
Our coffee comes in 250g pouches with clear front (to show off the quality of our beans) and metallic back.
Pouches have zip locks for your convenience
Since we roast daily only the amount of coffee we sell, so you are assured of freshness.
We use roasting date labels in stead of sell-by dates
Coffee has a half life of 2 weeks. After two months the oils start going rancid and your coffee has reached the end of its life.
Your old coffee grinds can be tossed into the compost.
Tips to ensure a delicious cup
So now that you have chosen a good quality coffee, remember that there are still a number of ways to really mess up your final cup. Here are a few more boxes to tick:
Always use fresh clean water.
Store coffee in an airtight container and consume within 2 months.
Do not boil your water and definitely never ever re-heat brewed coffee.
Use clean equipment


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Oceania Football Federation's Tai Nicholas ... criticisms in NZ press of Fiji judiciary triggered contempt case against The Fiji Times. Photo: Photosport |
At least, this was the demand by the regime's lawyers at a mitigation hearing by Justice William Calanchini in the Fiji High Court this week. The Fiji Times (founded 1869) is the country's oldest and arguably still the most influential daily newspaper.
Even though both Oceania Football Confederation general-secretary Tai Nicholas, a New Zealander, had pleaded guilty last July to contempt of court for his outspoken comments suggesting there was no rule of law in post-coup Fiji reported in the Sunday Star-Times, and The Fiji Times had also been found guilty in October to contempt, the comments would clearly be regarded as normal freedom of expression in any less vindictive jurisdiction.
If the world needed further evidence of how Fiji's "chilling" legal environment has not improved for free speech in the Pacific nation in spite of the lifting of formal censorship in January, this was it.
The Fiji Times legal case has rested on a mitigation defence that the contempt publication was "a mistake" – neither the publisher nor the editor were on duty on either dates of the offences.
As reported by South Pacific Lawyers website, Justice Calanchini ruled in early October that former publisher Brian O'Flaherty and editor-in-chief Fred Wesley were guilty of contempt.
The judge found both men liable as publisher and editor under strict liability principles. Justice Calanchini said that views attributed to Nicholas in the original article amounted to a contempt because a fair minded and reasonable person reading them would conclude that "those who claim to be performing judicial functions in Fiji are not in fact a judiciary at all" and presented a "real risk to the administration of justice in Fiji by undermining the authority, integrity and impartiality of the court and the judiciary".
Fiji has been frequently criticised in recent years for proceeding with contempt of court charges that infringe international human rights to freedom of opinion and freedom of expression.
Fiji Times lawyer John Apted told Justice Calanchini that chief editor Fred Wesley was unaware of the story that was published. And according to the newspaper's own report of the mitigation meeting:
"It was entirely up to the sports editor who, due to time constraints and no show of some staff, admitted he did not read the article.The Fiji Sun reported:
"Apted says on that day the editor, Fred Wesley, was not at work.
"In his mitigation submission, Apted once again asked for forgiveness from the court on behalf of his client.
"He also told the court that the Fiji Times had agreed to publish an apology on the front page of the newspaper.
"He said the Fiji Times was a very good corporate citizen and was working for the communities and a good example was the publishing of the Nai Lalakai and Shanti Dutt vernacular despite making losses."
"The Attorney-General's office proposed that a $500,000 fine be imposed on the Fiji Times Limited and a six-month imprisonment term for its editor-in-chief Fred Wesley.Sharma told the court that the contempt was the result of a "gross negligence and recklessness" by the newspaper.
"Appearing on behalf of the Attorney-General, acting Solicitor-General Sharvada Sharma submitted that given the seriousness of the contempt offence the Fiji Times should:
• pay no less than $500,000 within a period of time deemed appropriate by the court.
• the owners and directors should enter into a good behavior bond of $500,000 suspended for two years because the company was a repeat contempt of court offender."
In spite of the contempt proceedings, Andrew Walshaw reported last December that Tai Nicholas had been given a place in one of the International Football Association Federation's (FIFA) four anti-corruption panels.
"The New Zealander has been given a place on FIFA's Revision of Statutes Task Force entrusted with reviewing the rule book as part of FIFA president Sepp Blatter's cleanup campaign.A Fiji government statement said at the time: "The Attorney-General views these comments as scandalising the courts in Fiji, in that they are a scurrilous attack on the judiciary, thereby lowering the authority of the judiciary in Fiji."
"The move comes as the Fiji government announced that legal action was being taken over published remarks made by Nicholas about the Fijian judicial system."
Rev Akuila Yabaki ... denies the "contempt" charge. Photo: FijiVillage |
In a Radio Australia Pacific Beat interview, Jonathan Temm, president of the New Zealand Law Society, said that in his opinion no crime has been committed.
Justice Calanchini's sentence in The Fiji Times case has been reserved. The 2010 Media Decree effectively forced the sale of The Times by the Murdoch-owned News Limited group to local newspaper director Mac Patel of the Motibhai Group because of an imposed 10 percent foreign ownership ceiling. Contempt is separate from the decree, of course. But although the regime's vindictiveness against the newspaper continues, the mitigation submissions clearly demonstrate that Times staff need a big brush up on potential media law traps.


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text: LEGO has just released an announcement video for the forthcoming LEGO Ideas (née Cuusoo) set, 21109 Exo Suit, based on Peter Reid's terrific design submission. This is one of the more imaginative videos LEGO has done for an announcement, and it fits perfectly into Peter's Space universe that he lays out in his book, LEGO Space: Building the Future. See our previous coverage of this set here and here. There appears to still be no word on the price or part count, though it is set to be released in August.


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Zelda 3DS XL Confirmed for US Release
The limited edition Zelda-themed 3DS XL releasing in Europe has just been made official for release here in the States.
Due out on Nov. 22, the black and gold 3DS XL with the Triforce detailing will be available for $219.99. The bundle will also include a digital download code for the highly anticipated The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
"This beautifully designed Nintendo 3DS XL system continues a tradition that has delighted our fans for decades," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "It's a special bundle for a very special video game."
We already had a pretty good idea this was happening thanks to a leaked GameStop Black Friday flyer, but Nintendo had only just made it official. It's a fairly nice design, and follows suit with a similar DS Lite that came out ages ago with Phantom Hourglass. At least we now know it will be available before Black Friday.


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text:
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Today's workout was an easy 7 miles on the good ol treadmill. I never really know how to taper for a 1/2 marathon… the marathon I usually take the two days off before the race so I usually just take a day off before the 1/2. I keep all of my runs easy the week of any race but I think I should figure out the taper a little bit better. At least I have mastered the art of carb loading and I am the best at glycogen storage.
After my run Brooke was hungry and so I turned on the tv while I fed her and the best show ever was on. I turned it on right before the showcase showdown which is clearly the best part (except if they play plinko that day). PS Drew got tiny.
Fun fact about my family: My dad was ON Price is Right way back when and he won a dishwasher and pottery wheel. He is pretty much famous.
Costco bagel and serving bowl salad with bbq chicken.
And the only person in the history of my whole life that enjoys my signing and doesn't ask me to stop (maybe she will once she can talk). Her very favorite song is 'You Are My Sunshine' especially the part where I try really hard to hit the high note but fail miserably.
By the way, I saw these at TJ's last week and I haven't stopped thinking about them since and sometimes I find myself staring at the picture of them that I took on my iPhone. I am taking that as a sign that I need to go get them today.
Saw this on Pinterest and loved it.
Did you/do you ever watch the Price is Right?
-My mom and I used to watch it all of the time when I was little and I still get really excited when it is on.
Are you good at tapering? How do you taper for a race…
Favorite bagel flavor?
-Cinnamon sugar of course.


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Mount Abe girls outlast Otter Valley
BRISTOL — The host Mount Abraham Union High School girls' basketball team used tough first- and third-quarter defense to turn back determined Otter Valley on Wednesday, 46-38.
The Eagles forced 13 of the Otters' 28 turnovers and received nine of junior Ashlie Fay's game-high 20 points in the first quarter to take a 15-5 lead after the first eight minutes.
The Otters clawed their way back into the game. When junior Olivia Bloomer (a team-high nine points) converted a short jumper on an inbounds play at 3:30 of the third quarter, the Eagles led by just 26-22.
But then the Eagle press took effect again: OV turned the ball over eight times in the next 4:30, and went scoreless in that span.
Meanwhile, the Eagles closed the third quarter with a 10-0 run: Sophomore center Isabel Brennan converted an inbounds play, junior Sam Driscoll hit a layup after classmate Meg Livingston stole the ball and set her up, Fay scored twice, and Driscoll's jumper made it 36-22, enough of a lead to hold OV off in the fourth.
First-year OV coach Steven Keith saw a mixed bag: He was happy with his team's spunk and defense.
"It was a pretty hard-fought game. We dug ourselves a bit of a hole early, but dug out of it. That was good to see," Keith said.
But poise against defensive pressure will be a focus as the Otters work to improve in the weeks to come.
"We sped up against the press instead of slowing down," Keith said. "Overall we did a pretty decent job against their press, but that one stretch, we … just couldn't maintain it."
Likewise, Eagle coach Connie LaRose saw things to like and things to improve. She was happy with her team's fast start and with her starters and main substitutes' execution of the press.
"I thought at times we were clicking, doing the little things we need to do to make our game work," LaRose said.
At other times, LaRose would have liked to see "more patience on offense" and composure when the Eagles have a lead. She said there is no reason to force up shots quickly in some situations.
"In the third and fourth quarters, I don't think we made good game-situation decisions with the ball," LaRose said. "We must have put up six or eight shots in the span of a minute-and-a-half … It's what I call the my-turn offense."
Certainly, the Eagles were impressive early. The relentless press, Fay's points and four of Livingston's six points helped the Eagles to the 10-point lead after one. OV managed only two of Brittany Bushey's seven points and a Bloomer three-pointer in the period.
But the second quarter was a different story. OV turned the ball over just four times and got a lift from junior Jessica Frazier (eight points), who drove for two hoops, hit a pair of free throws, and assisted freshman Amy Jones (seven points) in the post. Meanwhile, the Eagles recorded five of their 15 turnovers and managed only an early Fay three-point play and a late Brennan putback in the period, which ended with the Eagles up by 20-15.
Frazier opened the second half with another strong move, and the lead was three. Mount Abe's Livingston, who had a game-high four assists, drove and dished to senior Jordan Emmons, and Eagle senior Lizzie Huizenga (eight points) sank a jumper to push the lead to seven. But a Bushey three-pointer reset it to four before Fay and Bloomer exchanged hoops to make it 26-22 at 3:30.
Then the Otters' wheels momentarily came off, and the Eagles took advantage to push the lead to 14. Bushey snapped that run with a drive a minute into the fourth, and after a Huizenga jumper, a three-point play inside by Jones and a Bloomer basket set up by Frazier cut the lead to nine, 38-29.
Livingston and OV point guard Taylor Aines (six points) exchanged hoops, and it was 40-31 at 4:00. Finally, a free throw by Eagle junior Sara Cousino, a Huizenga layup on the break set up by Fay, and a putback by Fay proved to be enough to seal the win.
OV managed only an Aines trey and two free throws down the stretch, but also missed a couple of good looks that could have tightened the game further.
"A couple layups and a couple open shots fall … and we're right in it," Keith said.
Keith's Otters are 1-3, but have also played some tough competition. Two losses have come to Fair Haven and Mount Abe, both top-four teams in the Division II coaches' poll.
"We may have stumbled out of the blocks a little bit here, but it's a long season, and we're definitely on the way up," Keith said. "Every day we fix a couple things, so that's what we're going to do. It's a good group, a real good unit, and they play well together. They like playing together, and they like coming to practice, so it's been good."
LaRose said inexperienced players like Brennan and junior forward Meg Wetter are learning quickly, and she also expects her team — which was 3-0 heading into a Saturday home game vs. winless Middlebury, but faces tough tests this week in Fair Haven and Burr & Burton — to continue to improve.
"Every day we get a little bit better in practice in the execution of things," she said. "I think we're a season-long work in progress."
Andy Kirkaldy may be reached at [email protected].
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